Seismic assessment of cracked masonry structures by shaking table tests

Abstract

Masonry is a widely used architectural style for its decent characteristics such as high thermal resistivity and durability. However, its poor performance under horizontal load, for example, earthquake, has aroused public concerns for seismic hazard. We implement shaking table tests for two types of model, pristine and cracked, to investigate the seismic behavior of masonry structure as well as the effect of crack. Each model is equally designed to contain one main wall and two side walls. Only for the cracked model, however, an artificial line crack is created on each side wall during the fabrication. Biaxial horizontal seismic excitations are imposed, by gradually increasing the load until each model collapsed. The effects of the existing cracks and propagations are investigated, and specific crack patterns that impair the seismic resistance are identified.